Over the past several months, the Warriors have reportedly been in the mix to acquire such players as Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and James Harden.

Each of those star players became available and were subsequently traded – to teams other than the Golden State Warriors.

The reason that happened was simple: The Warriors didn’t have the goods to realistically acquire a player of that caliber.

But that should change, and it should change very soon.

Come this summer, the Warriors will be in a very advantageous position should another star player come available. Once July 1 passes, the Warriors will have the asset wherewithal to compete with any team for any player on the trade market.

Think about it … when a team is put in a position where it must trade its star player, that team usually wants three things in return: Young talent, an expiring contract or two and draft picks. The Warriors haven’t had many of those.

As the Warriors head into the 2013-14 season – one in which you figure they’ll be coming off a postseason appearance – they will have young talent (Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, Festus Ezeli, Draymond Green, and, yes, Stephen Curry), big, expiring contracts (Andris Biedrins, Richard Jefferson and Andrew Bogut), and draft picks to dangle.

If you put those three things together, you have the makings of acquiring a difference-maker.

In the recent past, for example, the Warriors had been greatly constrained when it came to trading their first-round picks because of a prior trade with the New Jersey Nets. In short, the Warriors were prohibited from including first-round picks in moves.

It looks like a certainty that this will be the year the Warriors lose their first-round pick to the Jazz (New Jersey later traded that pick to Utah), which is bad on the one hand but good on another – it means they’ll be able to use their 2014 first-round pick in a trade, if need be.

Take a look at what the New Orleans Hornets got when they traded Chris Paul … Eric Gordon and Al-Farouq Aminu (two young players), Chris Kaman (expiring contract) and a 2012 unprotected first-rounder.

Here’s what the Oklahoma City Thunder received for James Harden … Jeremy Lamb (young player), Kevin Martin (expiring contract), two first-round picks and a second-round pick.

The deals for Dwight Howard and Rudy Gay, recently, included a plethora of young players and picks.

So, while the Warriors would have liked to think they were in the mix for some or a few of those players in the past, the reality is they couldn’t put together a realistic package.

They couldn’t utilize future first-round picks, they didn’t have a big enough stockpile of young talent and they didn’t have any expiring contracts.

All that will change this summer, though, when the Warriors have those assets, and then some.

Us being in the position to acquire a difference maker is only one part of the equation. On the other side of that equation is finding a team that is neck high in contracts and is in desperate need of cap relief or if a player is at the end of his contract, and the team has to get rid of him before they walk away with nothing like in Josh Smith's case.

Here are some situations that might be possible. I'm not even saying that I would be in favor of these trades, I'm just simply looking at what players may be available. Feel free to add to it.

1. Bulls looking to unload Boozer.2. Lakers looking to unload Gasol, World Peace, or Nash.3. Although Pierce's contract is already partially unguaranteed and expiring, they may want to trade him for matching salary and picks.4. Boston may also want to look into trading KG for picks and young talent as well.5. Brooklyn may want to trade Kris Humperies before he walks. They can also be looking to trade Lopez, Williams, or Johnson for cap relief.6. Iggy may become available as he expires the year after this season (assuming he opts in).7. Danny Granger would be available, but you have to question if he's on the downside. Personally I already think he's on the decline, but the question is how much.8. Miami may want to trade Wade or Bosh to avoid being a repeat offender of luxury tax.9. Brandon Jennings and Monta is available. (lol).10. NYK might want to unload Amare Stoudemire. Maybe Tyson Chandler will be available.11. Im pretty sure Gortat doesn't want to stay in Phoenix. Will Bogut and a 1st rounder cut it?

Out of all of those, I'm looking REAL HARD at Tyson Chandler and Gortat. Hell I might bite on Granger assuming his value is at an all time low. I'd be interested in Iggy as well, but I'm pretty iffy about his age. Other than these 3, I don't like what I'm seeing.

Here is a list of players that are restricted this year. Us trading to get under the the luxury tax gave us the ability to acquire someone via sign-and-trade.

1. Tyreke Eveans.2. Nikola Pekovic

These two are very interesting. I'd be very open to Evans for this particular reason. He's big, and he can play the point. That allows Curry to play off the ball the way he does when Jack is in. I highly doubt that Pekovic is available because the Wolves have the LOWEST salary in the NBA and they'll match virtually anything to keep Pekovic. I hope someone throws a fat ass offer to Pekovic just so that they have to swallow it.

Thing about Tyreke is he is reinventing himself as a SF. Dude solely relied on his athleticism his rookie year (lack of quality talent). Teams adjusted. He suffered. IMO, he is having his best season since his rookie year, now that he is playing more of a swinger. He looks like he is actually trying to improve on his game. Could be a good player. Probably not for us though. Maybe for the Celtics or 76ers.

Thing about Tyreke is he is reinventing himself as a SF. Dude solely relied on his athleticism his rookie year (lack of quality talent). Teams adjusted. He suffered. IMO, he is having his best season since his rookie year, now that he is playing more of a swinger. He looks like he is actually trying to improve on his game. Could be a good player. Probably not for us though. Maybe for the Celtics or 76ers.

And like I said, this allows Curry to play off the ball full time. It also doesn't hurt us on the other end because Tyreke is big enough to guard 2's, and maybe 3's? I'm not sure, I don't want him at all, but I've seen him be listed as a point guard, shooting guard, and a small forward. I'm also under the impression that he attacked the basket. I dunno, I'd entertain the idea.

Evans addresses a need we have: he gets into the paint at will. Those guys are commodities. Our slashing game took a major hit when we lost Maggette, was on his last leg after the Ellis trade, and evaporated completely after Nate Robinson left. Yeah, I'd love Klay, Steph, or Barnes to develop into that for us... And i'd also like DLee to start blocking 4 shots a night. Reality is, the driving lanes need a catalyst to open them up before our current wings start looking for them. Having a token driver keeps the defense on their toes by creating urgency on close outs. Suddenly, the D can't just sprint towards a shooter; he has to be mindful of the ground attack. We Believe was built on shooters and slashers, this team is built on shooters and bigs. It'd be nice to balance it out.

Of course, I wouldn't acquire Evans to start. He'd ideally be a 6th man to spell Steph, Klay, or Barnes... Something more dire if we lose Jack in the offseason. Petrie isn't exactly the smartest wheeler and dealer, either. After the crap he took for TRob, I'd go into trade discussions dangling Biedrins' expirer for Evans and Marcus Thornton; REALLY sure up that bench brigade and get in on Sac's fire sale (since its pretty clear the Maloofs are hurting for money).

Its a wait and see process with Bogut, I feel bad for the guy, the injuries are killing him, with that said I don't see the warriors resigning him.

I am not sure how patient the warriors can be as far as acquiring a difference maker, but we do infact need one to take us to the next level. One that can play with our current squad, or we can just be patient and wait until next season ends and all the expires of Bogut, Beans, and Jefferson come off the books. Either way we need an athletic defensive 2/3, a slasher type real bad. Most importantly we need to retain Jack.

I like Dwight for what he would bring to this team on the court, but not what he brings into the locker room. He's already gotten 2 coaches fired in the last 2 seasons (Van Gundy and Mike Brown). He's already having his troubles with D'Antoni and has been rumored to not re-sign with the Lakers because of the coach. Its another "fire the coach or I walk" deal. He isn't a team player. You take away his athletic ability and size, then you'd have nothing. Factor in the that he's a prima donna and you'd have a guy that you wouldn't want on your team. This team has some good chemistry going and they need a guy that will take them to the next level, not a guy coming in and complaining about not getting the ball enough or criticizing a coach.

I like Draymond Green more than I like Harrison Barnes. If they can trade Barnes and one of the expiring contracts or two, to get a major player, then I'd do it. But I'd want someone young. Not someone like a Danny Granger who will be 30 years old. The problem is, there aren't that many of those guys out there that will be available.

Lets have some patience with Barnes, I say we really can't judge him yet. Sure, he hasn't been that great, but he has shown flashes of who he can be. I would much rather trade Thompson than Barnes, but again, it depends on the return.

The thing about dealing for an established difference-maker is that they're usually not on the trade block for long. Rudy Gay was shopped for 1 month, Iggy was an offseason deal, who even heard about Bogut being dealt until it happened? I guess my point is: sure, Dwight, Tyreke... These are obvious cases. But James Harden wasn't obvious; that was an extremely sudden deal and nobody here predicted that OKC would deal him until it actually happened. So again the point is: the next difference-maker might not be an obvious one we can see a mile away.

For instance (and I'm not saying this could happen, but) lets say suddenly Sacramento decided to cash out it's chips and put DeMarcus Cousins on the block before his next extension. We now have the assets necessary (expirers, young talent, draft picks) to get in on that sort of deal. It's not WHO we get that's exciting, it's the fact that we're gonna be in on these discussions now. So if Marc Gasol gets shopped, we have the package to get him. If Chris Bosh or Carmelo or ANYBODY decides they want a fresh start in a lighter but still fertile market, we've got a play for them.